Chag Hashavuot, a messianic perspective
By Paul Cohen.
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The Feast of Weeks, Pentecost.
Readings Lev 23:9-22 + I Cor 15:12-58
Before I start, I would like to explain a little on the feast of first harvest (lev 23:9-): it will help us to understand the feast of Shavuot (feast of weeks) better. This feast called "first Harvest", or "First-Fruits" occurs on the first day after the first Sabbath of Passover.
It is the barley harvest -(the first crop planted in the winter) - in spring this crop is beginning to ripen. This first sheaf (firstfruits) of the harvest is cut and, is presented to the Lord. The Lord's acceptance of the firstfruits is an "earnest," or pledge, on His part of a full harvest. The term first fruits is used a number of times in scripture.
During the Passover week, in early spring included firstfruits from the first harvest, barley.
- Shavuot, in late spring, included firstfruits from the wheat harvest. Among the many offerings given was a "wave offering" of two loaves of leavened bread. This was the firstfruits offering.
- Sukkot (tabernacles), in the fall, was the final harvest and included among firstfruits of olives and grapes.
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- Shavuot shares two important characteristics with the Passover and The Feast of Tabernacles:
- All three holidays involved a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
- All three holidays involved some kind of firstfruit offerings at the Temple.
In writing to the Church at Corinth, it became necessary for the apostle Paul to correct a major doctrinal error, which was creeping into the assembly of believers. Some were being infected by the deadly first-century teaching known as "Gnosticism", which some people are teaching again today. Among other things, this philosophy held that everything material (in other words: the universe, the world, the flesh) was inherently evil. Consequently, if men rose physically from the grave, according to gnosticism, the result would be an evil body.
Because of this teaching, some among the Corinthian believers were beginning to deny the concept of physical resurrection. They believed in the immortality of the soul, but not in the resurrection of the body. The apostle Paul rushed to "nip the problem in the bud." He wrote to the Corinthian believers: "Now if Messiah be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?" 1Co 15:12 To reject the concept of physical resurrection was to reject the physical resurrection of Messiah. Logically, you can't have one without the other.
- To deny physical resurrection was to call the apostle Paul a liar, for he had taught them that Messiah rose bodily from the grave. 1Co 15:3-4
- To deny the physical resurrection of Messiah was to repudiate their faith. 1Co 15:14
- To deny the physical resurrection of Messiah was to consign loved ones who had died in Messiah to eternal condemnation. 1Co 15:18
- To deny the physical resurrection of Messiah was to consign men to misery. 1Co 15:19
- Using irresistible logic, Paul brought those denying bodily resurrection down to the depths of despair based on their own reasoning.
The Gnostic & Corinthian's view was this: There is no bodily resurrection.
Paul then concludes that: Messiah is not raised from the dead.
Using ONE word, Paul leapt from the depths of despair (where denial of physical resurrection unerringly led them) to the heights of certain hope and exaltation. This word is "but" Paul wrote, "But Messiah has indeed been raised from the dead." 1Co 15:20
Some were saying there is no physical resurrection of the dead. Logically, therefore, Messiah was not resurrected. The end result of such thinking is hopelessness and despair. Paul's triumphant response was: "But Messiah has indeed been raised from the dead and become the first fruits of them that sleep." 1Co 15:20 Paul had in mind the first sheaf (firstfruits) of the barley harvest. Lev 23:10 When God accepted the firstfruits, they became the earnest or guarantee that the rest of the crop would be harvested. Messiah Himself is the "first fruits." 1Co 15:23
All believers have the firstfruits of the Spirit, and await the full harvest of redemption: 'We also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body' (Romans 8:23).
Introduction to Chag Hashavuot
On the fiftieth day of the counting of the omer the holiday Chag Shavuot is celebrated. Known also the Feast of Weeks among the Jewish people, this one day festival is known as the Feast of Pentecost among Christians. God wove the seasons of worship together with the physical Land of Israel, linking the two inextricably. It is there important to see the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, without this connection the full significance of these God-given festivals is missed. The Feasts of Israel simply cannot be divorced from the land which God swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to their descendants . Thus, even when the Jewish people were scattered to the four corners of the earth, these festivals reminded us of what was happening back in the land of our ancestors, back in our land.
The Names
There are four Biblical name the first name for this particular festival is Chag Hashavuot, meaning "the Feast of Weeks" and commonly used in the Old Testament (Ex. 34:22; Deut. 16:10). It is called the Feast of Weeks, because it took place seven weeks after the Feast of Passover (Pesach).
A second name is Chag Haqqatzir, which means "the Feast of Harvest," referring to the fact that this marked the end of the spring harvest season (Ex. 23:16).
Yom Habikkurim is the third name, which means "the Day of the Firstfruits," as it delineated the time of the firstfruits of the summer harvest (Num. 28:26), (The Targum renders this Atzereth).
The fourth name is "the Day of Pentecost," derived from the Greek translation in Acts 2:1; 20:16 & I Cor. 16:8. The Greek word "pentekostes" comes from the Greek word that means "fifty," and applies here because this feast comes 50 days after Passover.
There are also rabbinic names for this holiday the first name is Chag Habikkurim, which means "the Feast of Firstfruits." This is a rabbinic name that is not found in Scripture. It became known as such, because the firstfruits of the wheat and barley harvest were offered at this time.
The second name Chag Atzeret, meaning "the Closing Festival." It became the rabbinic name, because it marked the end of the first cycle of festivals. The seven holy seasons fall into two cycles (Lev. 23); because the Feast of Weeks marks the last of the first cycle, it became known as "the Closing Festival." (Rosh Hashannah 1,2; and Hag 2,4) The rabbinic name is "Azeret". This word, of uncertain meaning but generally translated as "solemn assembly," occurs also in connection with the day following the Festival of Sukkot (Lev. 23:36; Num. 29:35).
Atzeret Shel Pesach, the third name, means "the Closing Season of the Passover." This refers to the fact that it is the last feast of the first cycle of festivals which began with the Passover.
The fourth name is Z'man Matan Torah (Toratenu), which means "the Season of the Giving of the (our) Law." This rabbinic name is based upon a Jewish tradition that the Law of Moses was given to Israel on this day. (Exo 19:1) In the 3rd month. (Not to be confused with Simcha Torah (See the calendar for the time difference) Hopefully a teaching page on this feast will appear soon.
The Jewish Practice & Observance
During the 2nd Temple period (515 B.C. to 70 C.E.), the Jewish observance of this feast focused on the harvest festival for farmers. In an elaborate ceremony featuring people playing flutes and other instruments, farmers paraded to the Temple with an offering of their firstfruits - wheat, barley, grapes, figs and raisins (Misnah Bik 3:2-4). The Psalms of Pilgrim (120-134) were chanted when religious Jews went up to Jerusalem.
The Festival offering - The Two Loaves
What do we know about these to loaves? Well they cannot represent Messiah, (since He is one, and not two, also the Messiah is sinless, leaven being a type of sin. As you will remember the Matzah / afikomen of passover does represent the Messiah, but not these leavened loaves. Both loaves were waved before the Lord, in the same way the bread of presence were waved. The bread of presence according to some represented Israel's Tribes, every tribe offered a loaf.
- Lev 24:5-8 "Take fine flour and bake twelve loaves of bread, using two tenths of an ephah for each loaf. (6) Set them in two rows, six in each row, on the table of pure gold before the LORD. (7) Along each row put some pure incense* as a memorial portion to represent the bread and to be an offering made to the LORD by fire. (8) This bread is to be set out before the LORD regularly, Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of the children of Israel, as a lasting covenant.
- *(the incense was placed in a bowl; see Exodus 25:29)
So too here the two loaves represent something or somebody.
An old tradition prescribes that two loaves of leavened bread be baked; some say they represent all of humanity, with one loaf is representing the Jewish people, the other loave is representing the Gentiles, (while others see them as representing the two tablets Moses brought down from Sinai).
The Messianic interpretation is that when Messiah comes, He will take these two loaves and wave them before the Lord, Messiah is gathering both Jews and Gentiles to Himself in a new covenant of peace. The prophet Isaiah speaks of Messiah when he says that "He will come as a light to lighten the Gentiles."
"I the Lord have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and give you for a convenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." -Isaiah 42:6, 7
The harvest is a common theme that represents the ingathering of people.
The Scripture Reading
From the Torah Exo Ch. 19-20. Haftorah Eziekiel Ch 1-2 and Habukak Ch 3. [all these pages deal with Theophanies] The entire scroll of Ruth is read on this occasion because this story also takes place at harvest time. Furthermore, Ruth was a convert to the Mosaic Law which was given on this day.
The rabbis teach that just as Ruth suffered deprivation when she accepted the Torah (the Law), so we suffer deprivation when we accept the Law. Furthermore, according to Jewish tradition, King David - a descendant of Ruth - was born on this feast and died on this feast. [This might have been already the tradition at the time of Yeshua as king David is mentioned in Acts 2:29] [Exo 19-20 deal with the Ten Commandments - Giving of the Law.] The Rabbi's teach that the children of Israel received the Torah on Shavuot, the festival is also called Chag Matan Torah (the Festival of the Giving of the Law).
Our Rabbi's emphasize that only when they received the Ten Commandments did the Children of Israel become a free people. Our forefathers received the Torah of their free will and with full agreement (Exodus, 24: 7). There are two kinds of readings those that relate to Shavuot and those that relate to the Theophany, (God manifesting himself). This happened when God gave us the Torah in Exodus "Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire.", when Eziekiel saw the heavens were opened he saw visions of God, and last but least in Habukak when he writes "God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran."
| Scripture readings for Shavuot |
First Day
(May 21, 1999)
Exodus 19:1-20:23
Numbers 28:26-31
Eziekiel 1:1-28; 3:12
Hallel (Psalm 113-117) |
Theophanies
References
Exo
Eziekiel
Habukak |
Second Day
(May 22, 1999)
Deuteronomy 15:19-16:17
Numbers 28:26-31
Habukak 3:1-19 (2:20-3:19)
Ruth |
Shavuot
References
Deut
Numbers
Ruth |
During the second Temple the Hallel was not read / chanted but the Pilgrim Psalms 120-134, the psalms were changed in the talmudic periode.
The Special Foods Every Jewish holiday has special festive foods, so to here are three special foods eaten by Jewish people on this occasion.
Milk Products
There is a special emphasis on milk products this day in order to remember that the land given to Israel by God was a land flowing with milk and honey. And according to Jewish tradition, only dairy foods were eaten on the day of the giving of the Law. According to one rabbinic interpretation, dairy foods are eaten at this time because the Bible compares the Torah to milk in the Song of Songs 4:11: "Honey and milk are under your tongue." Another reason is that the law of firstfruits is right next to the law that prohibits boiling a kid in its mother's milk, possibly to avoid imitating pagan rites. (see Exodus 23:19)
[Suggestion if you find this study helpful send me a Cheesecake ;-)).... ]
Challah
Another special food for this feast is challah, egg bread made yellow by the heavy use of egg yolks and eaten weekly on the Sabbath. For this particular feast day, however, the bread is baked in the form of a ladder to differentiate from the braided form used every Friday night. The ladder is also to remind us of the Jewish tradition that Moses used a ladder to climb into Heaven to receive the Law.
Kreplach
The third special food is kreplach - a Jewish kind of ravioli without tomato sauce and shaped in a triangle rather than a square. It has three sides to represent the various things (some say the Law Prophets and the writings, others say Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, still others say Priests, Levites, and Israel, or perhaps because on the third month through Moses who was the third child of his parents). (kreplach is like Wontons or Ravioli: cooked meat wrapped in noodle dough). Some use triangular pancakes with a filling.
Rabbinic Traditions and Observances
We read the Megillat Ruth; scroll or book of Ruth at Shavuot for three reasons. The setting of Ruth is the harvest. She became a follower of the God of Israel, just as Israel became a follower of the Almighty at Mount Sinai. And the book of Ruth announces the ancestry of King David, Ruth's great-grandson who, according to Jewish tradition, was born and died (Ruth Rabbah 3:2, P. Hag. 2:3, P. Bet. 2:4) on Shavuot, and that Ruth's loyalty is symbolic of Israel's loyalty to the Torah.
In Sephardic congregations a poetic Ketubah (marriage contract) between God and Israel is offered. In Ashkenazi synagogues, our people recite a poem called Akdamut Millin (meaning introduction, because it begins with that word) in the Aramaic language. The 'Akdamut', composed by a cantor R' Meir b. Isaac Nehorai of Orleans (1096). The following poem is based on the Akdamut:
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
Were every blade of grass a quill,
Were the whole world of parchment made,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
Would drain that ocean dry,
Nor would the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky. |
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The "Akdamut" is a rhymed poetic prologue to the festival Torah reading of the revelation at Mount Sinai. Composed at the time of the Crusades, its ninety Aramaic stanzas speak in praise of the Torah and of the great rewards that await those who devote their lives to it.
We decorate our homes and synagogues with flowers and plants to symbolize that the Torah is a tree of life. As a tree provides fruit and nourishment, so does the word of God. According to tradition, we do so because grass grew on Mount Sinai, the place of the Giving of the Law. Also, green plants remind us of the trimming used to adorn the people's baskets of firstfruits. An other tradition has it, Sinai was a green mountain, and with trees, because Shavuot is judgement day for the fruit of the tree. The Mishnah (RH 1:2): declared that Shavu'ot is the "Rosh Hashanah," the annual day of judgement, for the fruit trees.
There is a custom of studying all night on the eve of Shavuot to read the Torah, the Psalms, and the Talmud. One midrash tells us that God revealed himself on Mount Sinai at noontime, but the the children of Israel were still asleep and Moses had to rouse them. Some say the present custom of staying awake all night is a way of atoning for our failure to be awake and alert when God appeared to us.
A Jewish child would start school and learn the alef bet on the Shavuot of his or her fifth year. A special treat followed -- a taste of honey to help the child associate God's word with sweetness, as it says in Psalm 119:103, "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"
To give thanks for the Shiv'at Haminim The Seven Species. Eretz Israel is described in the Torah as being blessed particularly with seven species of fruits of the land: wheat, barley, the vine, the fig, the pomegranate, the olive and the date.
"For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills: A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey." (Deut - Devarim 8:7-8) The Torah emphasizes the festival's botanic and agricultural dimensions in connection with the wheat and barley harvests, and most notably as the beginning of the season for bringing the bikkurim, the first offerings of the summer fruit.
Giving and received the Law
According to Jewish tradition, Moses received the Law from God at Mount Sinai during Shavuot.
Neither Bible, Josephus nor Philo refers to Shavuot as "the time of the giving of our Torah". There are no references in the rabbinic literature to the Torah being given on this day (e.g., B. Shab. 86b-88a) that is earlier than the second century C.E., though there may well have been a tradition far earlier than this. The earliest clear references to Shavuot as the anniversary of the giving of the Torah are from the third century, e.g., the saying of R. Eleazar that all authorities agree that it is necessary to rejoice with good food and wine on Azeret because it was the day on which the Torah was given (Pes. 68b).
If there is any truth to this tradition there are some interesting comparisons, first in Exodus 32:28 were three thousand people died in connection with the giving of the Law and the golden calf, in the New Covenant we see the antithesis were three thousand people get born again the initial (birth) of the church. The other interesting comparison is the fire aspect, with the giving of the Law we see God desending on the mountain with fire and commision the nation of Israel, with Laws and commandments, so to the during the birth of the church we see fire and commision the diciples of Yeshua, with Laws and commandments. Both were told to go and preach the good news of Lord.
Major Themes
- Revelation: God's Word was revealed through the Law.
- Community: the giving of the Law taught the Jewish people how to relate to one another as well as to God.
- Giving of alms to the poor this is based on Lev 23:22 And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shal not make clean riddance of the corners of your field when you reap, neither shal you gather any gleaning of your harvest: you shal leave them for the poor, and to the stranger: I [am] the LORD your God.
- Different dates for this festival.
Biblical, Shavuot or Weeks, count seven sevens of weeks from firstfruits, (Lev 23:15 Deu 16:9) and then on the "morrow" this fourth feast was to be observed. Lev 23:16 Seven sevens of weeks are forty-nine days. Add one additional day ("one the morrow"), and it brings the total days to fifty. This fourth feast was to occur precisely fifty days after firstfruits (Messiah's resurrection).
This feast is also called "Pentecost" (Act 2:1) - meaning fifty.
It is stated in Leviticus: "From the day after the Sabbath, the day that you bring the sheaf of wave offering you shall count (until) seven full weeks have elapsed: you shall count fifty days, until the day after the seventh week; then you shall bring an offering of new grain to the Lord" (Lev. 23:15–16 and to 21).
Leviticus 23:11 states that the sheaf was waved on the day after the Sabbath on the festival of Passover. Thus Shavuot falls 50 days after this day.
The early believers in Yeshua, Sadducees (and later the Karaites) understood the term "Sabbath" in these verses literally, hence, for them Shavuot always falls on a Sunday. The Pharisees, however, interpreted "Sabbath" as the first day of Passover (which was a Sabbath, "day of rest") so that, for them, Shavuot always falls on the 51st day from the first day of Passover (Sifra Emor Perek 12; Men. 65a–66a). The Beta Israel (Falashas) interpreted "the day after Sabbath" as meaning the day after Passover so that for them Shavuot falls on the 12th of Sivan.
The community of Qumran apparently interpreted "Sabbath" as the Sabbath after the end of the Passover festival, and as they had a fixed solar calendar this "Sabbath" always fell on the 26th of Nisan so that Shavuot always came out on Sunday the 15th of Sivan.
Modern observance
In Israel today some attempts have been made to revive some of the harvest ceremonies particular in (religious) kibbutzim during shavuot members bring festive baskets with their first fruits to synagogue (or to their dining room).
The Feast of Weeks in the Law of Moses
The Law of Moses mentions this feast day five times: Exodus 23:16 describes it as a pilgrimage festival, one of three occasions on which every Jew was to go to Jerusalem to observe holy days (the other two were Passover and Tabernacles); [the three pilgrim festivals had a theological significance to Israel.
- Passover refers to the creation of the nation;
- Shavuot to the marriage Contract between God and Israel and
- Succot has to do with entering the promised land] the second passage employs the feast's common name,
the Feast of Weeks (Ex. 34:22); the third passage, Leviticus 23:15-21, contains some details on the timing of this feast as well as its purpose, that is, to make a meal offering - the firstfruits of the wheat harvest - to the Lord; the fourth reference, Numbers 28:26-31, specifies the nature of the offerings; finally, Deuteronomy 16:9-12 describes this feast as a time of rejoicing before God as a means of remembrance of the Jewish people's bondage in Egypt.
The Feast of Weeks in the New Testament
The Feast of Weeks is mentioned three times in the New Testament: In Acts 2:1-4, it is used in regard to the birth of the body of Messiah; the second passage, Acts 20:16, states that Paul wanted to be in Jerusalem for this special day, although as a Jewish believer he was no longer bound by the Law to do so; and Paul, again, refers to this feast in I Corinthians 16:8.
The Holy City, Jerusalem, with a population then of about six hundred thousand, as Cornelius Tacitus (55 - 117 A.D.), the Roman historian, recorded, exploded into between two and three millions because of the pilgrims. The pilgrims slept on the flat roofs of the houses, camped outside the walls of Jerusalem, were given hospitality by relatives and friends, all within a "Sabbath day's journey" to reach the House of God.
The Resurrection connection: King David.
Peter seemed to know the tradition that King David died on Shavuot as he gave his sermon. (Act 2:29 Men [and] brothers, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried,and his sepulchre is with us unto this day). He also used the prophecies of David in the Psalm 16:8-11 to speak of the suffering and resurrection of Yeshua, the Son of David.
The Messianic Implications
In dealing with the Messianic implications, we will first examine Acts 2:1-4 and, then, we will look at the two loaves of bread.
The start of the body of Messiah or the Church Acts 2:1-4
We learn that the body of Messiah was born on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4. We read, too, of the specific ministry of being filled by the Holy Spirit, which means being controlled by the Holy Spirit. (The filling of the Spirit was not something new here, however, as people were filled with the Spirit in the Old Testament and the Gospels even before the events of Acts two.)
The new ministry that happens here is Spirit baptism, and this is clear by comparing two passages: In Acts 1:5, Yeshua used the future tense, when He said, you shall be baptised by the Holy Spirit. They had not yet been baptised by the Holy Spirit, but they would be not many days hence.
Obviously, not many days hence refers to the event that occurred 10 days later on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1. While the actual work of Spirit baptism is not mentioned, it is, indeed, what happened on this occasion. This is obvious from the second passage (Acts 11:15-16), where Peter refers back to Acts 2:1-4 and mentions the Spirit falling on the apostles at the beginning. In verse 16, he quotes what Yeshua said in Acts 1:5 to point out that the Spirit's ministry of baptism prophesied then by yeshua was fulfilled when He came upon them at the beginning (Acts 2:1-4).
This ministry of the Spirit was new, beginning in Acts 2:1-4 on this feast. And this is the way one enters the Body of Messiah, we are told in I Corinthians 12:13. A believer enters the Body by means of Spirit baptism, and the Body is the Church, according to Colossians 1:18. Thus, the Church was born with the advent of Spirit baptism, because apart from Spirit baptism the Church cannot and does not exist. So, the birth of the Church is the fulfilment of the Feast of Weeks.
An interesting point (for those that want to keep both the giving of the Torah and the Holy Spirrit) is that the first time recorded in the Scriptures being fire on the mountain when God gave Israel the Torah! Now again we see fire, no longer distant but on his children!
The Two Loaves, Shetei Ha-Lechem
The Law of Moses describes the offering of two loaves (Lev 23:17).
These loaves, furthermore, were to be made of wheat. Wheat and harvest in the Gospels are common symbols of evangelism and salvation. In Matthew 3:11-12, wheat and harvest are connected as well with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which began on the Feast of Pentecost and brought the Church into existence.
These same symbols appear again in Matthew 13:24-30, where they serve to elaborate on the Matthew 3:11-12 passage; here, wheat is again used as a symbol of evangelism and salvation which result in being unified into the Body of Messiah that was born on the Feast of Pentecost. Another example of this is found in John 4:35-38, where wheat again portrays evangelism and salvation. By means of evangelism, people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus, and when they exercise faith, they are baptised by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Messiah.
Firstfruits
The typical meaning of Shavuot is that Jews and Gentiles are united in a common faith, and accepted by God, as represented by the two leavened loaves. The leaven in the loaves represents our sinful imperfections, but that does not hinder God from accepting us because of the sacrifice that accompanies the offering. 'But now in Messiah Yeshua you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Messiah.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of division between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father' (Ephesians 2:13-18).
Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 5:8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Although Paul is talking about the
Passover we are to imitate the Head, Messiah, the unleavened loaf and not the body a leavened loaf.
Another facet of the Feast of Pentecost was that there were firstfruits - wheat - on this occasion. This concept is fulfilled in a very special way in that these first believers were Jewish believers, the firstfruits fulfilment of the Feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:41-42).
This is also brought out when James writes specifically to Jewish believers in James 1:1; [He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.] these first-Cent Jews are a kind of firstfruits of His creatures (James 1:18), fulfilling the firstfruits aspect of the Feast of Pentecost. This is in contrast to Messiah who is Himself the "first fruits." 1Co 15:23 (Bikkurim, first day after the Sabbath of Passover)
Last days
Just as there was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that Jewish people heard and accepted Yeshua in a supernatural way on Pentecost, so an even greater outpouring is predicted by the prophet Zechariah: "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn" (Zechariah 12:10).
Yes, there will be mourning when all of Israel finally realizes who Yeshua is, but after the mourning and the repentance there will be great joy. Yeshua said this regarding the end-time harvest of souls: "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest" (Matthew 9:37,38).
Also when Israel will be restored this festival will again be celebrated - 'For on My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, says the Lord GOD, there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me; there I will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the firstfruits of your sacrifices, together with all your holy things' (Ezekiel 20:40).
Some non biblical references
Josephus. Jew. Wars, ii 3.1.
Josephus. Antiq. iii. 10. 6.
Josephus. Antiq. xiv. 13. 4. |
Misnah Bik 3:2-4
Targ. Onk. to Num. 28:26
Pirke de R' Kahana 192a–93a. |
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Leviticus 23:17
From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour,
baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord.
Ephesians 2:15
By abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.
His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two,
thus making Shalom.
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Bibliography:
- Shavuot: The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), tape lecture by Dr Arnold Fruchtenbaum. (Ariel Ministries).
- Unger's bible dictionary by Merrill. F. Unger. 1951.
- The Jewish holy days : their spiritual significance by Moshe Braun. 1996.
- Faith in the future by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. 1997.
- Jewish Worship by Abraham E. Millgram. 1971.
- A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice by Rabbi Isaac Klein.
Paul Cohen.
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